Scientists have isolated an extract from a sponge found in Antarctica, known as Dendrilla membranosa, and tested it on MRSA biofilm.
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The extract, a new chemical which the research team has named darwinolide, is a natural product chemical found in laboratory tests to eliminate more than 98 percent of MRSA cells. The highly-resistant MRSA infection, formerly particularly problematic in places such as hospitals and nursing homes, is now found in commonly-used places.
While years ago the highly-resistant MRSA infection was particularly problematic in places such as hospitals and nursing homes, it has developed into an infection that can be found in commonly-used places such as gyms, locker rooms and schools.
"In recent years, MRSA has become resistant to vancomycin and threatens to take away our most valuable treatment option against staph infections," said study co-author and USF microbiologist Dr. Lindsey N. Shaw.
MRSA is unique in that it can cause infections in almost every niche of the human host, from skin infections, to pneumonia, to endocarditis, a serious infection of tissues lining the heart.
Unfortunately, the pace of the pharmaceutical industry's efforts to find new antibiotics to replace those no longer effective has slowed in recent years, said Shaw.
Like many other bacterium, the MRSA bacteria forms a biofilm.
"Biofilms, formed by many pathogenic bacteria during infection, are a collection of cells coated in a variety of carbohydrates, proteins and DNA," said Shaw. "Up to 80 percent of all infections are caused by biofilms and are resistant to therapy.
"We desperately need new anti-biofilm agents to treat drug resistant bacterial infections like MRSA."
USF chemistry professor Dr. Bill Baker and colleagues have literally gone to the 'ends of the Earth' to help in the fight against MRSA.
Baker, who also serves as director of the USF Center for Drug Discovery and Innovation (CDDI), studies the chemical ecology of Antarctica and dives in the frigid waters near Palmer Station to retrieve marine invertebrates, such as sponges, to carry out "natural product isolation," which means drawing out, modifying and testing natural substances that may have pharmaceutical potential. ■